Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Grand success and even grander hopes

Wednesday, April 04 (continued)

It is still Wednesday, but in some ways, it is like another
day. I say this because as of 5 p.m., my fortunes begin to turn regarding my
family tree research. I am at the parish archives of Pescia, where I am being
helped by Doctor Andrea Mandroni, a local superstar when it comes to genealogy.

Nearly everything I have learned
to date about the Spadoni line has come
from Andrea Mandroni. For anyone
looking to research their roots
from this area, this is your man.

Doctor Mandroni also helped me last year, when he uncovered the
name of my great great grandparents, Pellegrino Spadoni and Faustina
Tognarelli-Panteri. He then discovered the name of two previous generations,
plus many brothers, sisters and spouses of several generations.

He impressed me with his abilities, generosity and patience
last year, but I didn’t realize how well-recognized he is for his talents.
Officials in city offices in both Pescia and Altopascio recommended I contact
him, and I see his name mentioned in a local genealogy book with gratitude expressed
for assistance rendered.

So now I am back for more help. And when I say he helps, I
mean I sit and watch while he finds and reads documents with lettering in a
style so hard to decipher that it looks to be from another alphabet. As he does
this, other people—Italians doing their own research—come up to him every few
minutes and ask him to read part of a document and tell them what it says. He
reads out hand-scribbled names, dates and events as easily as if reading from
typewritten documents.

I show him what I have compiled from the research he did last
year. I am not sure which direction to move, I say. Should I try to go back
further, or follow my great grandmother’s side? Or I could try to follow the
descendants of Pellegrino’s brother Gaspero?

This is how the church records look.

Andrea decides we should dig more deeply into the past.
Pellegrino was preceded by Francesco, who was preceded by Lorenzo—all this
Andrea discovered last year. Today he finds the birth year of Lorenzo, 1723,
and then Lorenzo’s father, Leonardo, and then Leonardo’s father, who was also
named Lorenzo.

Then he shows me something that really excites me. He has
helped some nearby Spadoni families compile a book with their family trees. We
had looked at this book briefly last year, but it didn’t help. Most of the
lines in the book began in the 1400s, but they only followed one track to the
current era. The other branches were followed for only a few generations, up
through the early 1600s, and then the researchers dropped the branch. Probably
it was work enough to trace the line of the families who sponsored the research
without tracing every possible branch.

Now Andrea points to a branch in the book that stops with a
Lorenzo, born in 1628. He points out that this Lorenzo’s father was Leonardo,
whose father was another Lorenzo. This follows a familiar Italian pattern of
children being named after their grandparents.

We speculate that the oldest Lorenzo in my line may have been
born around 1675. That could mean that his father would have been born around
1650, and his grandfather, who may have shared the name Lorenzo, born around
1628— and that would match him with the Lorenzo in the family tree book.

If that’s the case, then my research would take a giant step
forward, because many days of study with perhaps a hundred names have already
gone into this book. And not only that, but the people who sponsored this book
are living around here today, and they share my interest in family history.
Possibly I could meet them, I think, and my family tree be added to their work.

Alas, it is 6:30 p.m., closing time, and the potential last
link remains undiscovered. The archives will not be open again until next Wednesday,
and Andrea says he will expect me then. In just a few hours, my prospects and
hopes have improved immensely. I hope my good fortune continues next week.

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.